Three new article modules: configuration binding, profiles and config data, Spring AOP

configuration-properties/  @ConfigurationProperties vs @Value on Spring Boot 4.1.1.
  The relaxed-binding matrix is generated by binding each spelling rather than
  transcribed, and re-checked against real processes -- the in-process probe was
  wrong twice before it was right. Records the three findings that came out of it:
  @Value does get relaxed resolution inside Spring Boot (Boot attaches
  ConfigurationPropertySources), the configuration processor silently stops
  generating metadata on JDK 23+ when declared as a plain dependency, and @Valid is
  not what makes nested constraints run.

profiles-and-config/       Precedence, profiles, spring.config.import and config trees.
  /precedence reports every source holding a property in rank order with file and
  line, which turns "my profile file had no effect" into a two-line answer. Also
  pins the counterintuitive one: an imported file outranks the file that imported it.

spring-aop/                Designators, proxy types, and aspects that do not fire.
  One advice per supported designator so the reference table is generated from real
  matches; all fourteen unsupported designators fed to the parser. Two corrections to
  the reference documentation: unsupported designators throw
  UnsupportedPointcutPrimitiveException (extends RuntimeException, not
  IllegalArgumentException), and spring-boot-starter-aop was renamed to
  spring-boot-starter-aspectj in Boot 4.

19 contract tests across the three modules, 15 captured transcripts, all regenerated
by scripts/run-all.sh. Verified on Spring Boot 4.1.1, Spring Framework 7.0.9,
JDK 25.0.4.1.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Gip4srpzMwjgoba6uEfbr5

spring-aop/docs/02-designators.md

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+[← What Spring AOP is](01-what-spring-aop-is.md) · [Index](../README.md) · [Proxy types →](03-proxy-types.md)
+
+# 2. The designator reference
+
+Generated by [`DesignatorAspect`](../src/main/java/com/ankurm/aop/aspect/DesignatorAspect.java)
+and [`PointcutParserEndpoint`](../src/main/java/com/ankurm/aop/web/PointcutParserEndpoint.java).
+Transcript: [`01-designators.txt`](output/01-designators.txt).
+
+## Supported
+
+| Designator | Matches on | Evaluated | Cost |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| `execution(...)` | method signature | statically | cheap |
+| `within(Type)` | the declaring type | statically | cheap |
+| `this(Type)` | the **proxy**'s type | at runtime | per call |
+| `target(Type)` | the **target object**'s type | at runtime | per call |
+| `args(Types)` | argument runtime types; can bind | at runtime | per call |
+| `@target(Ann)` | annotation on the executing object's class | at runtime | per call |
+| `@args(Ann)` | annotation on argument runtime types | at runtime | per call |
+| `@within(Ann)` | annotation on the declaring type | statically | cheap |
+| `@annotation(Ann)` | annotation on the method | statically | cheap |
+| `bean(name)` | Spring bean name, wildcards allowed | — | cheap |
+
+`bean(...)` is Spring's own; it does not exist in AspectJ.
+
+The runtime group cannot be decided from the signature alone, so Spring must check on every
+candidate invocation. Prefer the static equivalent where one exists: `@within` instead of
+`@target`, `within` instead of `this`, when the distinction does not matter.
+
+## What each one actually matched here
+
+```
+  execution (full signature)       -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
+  execution (wildcards)            -> DefaultOrderService.cancel(..)
+  within                           -> InventoryService.reserve(..)
+  this(OrderService)               -> place, cancel, interfaceless
+  target(DefaultOrderService)      -> place, cancel, interfaceless
+  args (bound: SKU-1/2)            -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
+  @target(Audited)                 -> DefaultOrderService.cancel(..)
+  @args(Trackable)                 -> DefaultOrderService.interfaceless(..)
+  @within(Audited)                 -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
+  @annotation(Marker)              -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
+  bean(inventoryService)           -> InventoryService.reserve(..)
+  bean(*OrderService)              -> place, cancel, interfaceless
+```
+
+`InventoryService.finalCheck` was called and appears nowhere: it is `final`, so no proxy could
+override it. That is [failure 4](05-broken-aspect-gallery.md).
+
+## Not supported
+
+`call`, `get`, `set`, `preinitialization`, `staticinitialization`, `initialization`, `handler`,
+`adviceexecution`, `withincode`, `cflow`, `cflowbelow`, `if`, `@this`, `@withincode`.
+
+All fourteen were fed to the parser. All fourteen were rejected, with:
+
+```
+org.aspectj.weaver.tools.UnsupportedPointcutPrimitiveException
+Pointcut expression 'call(* ...place(..))' contains unsupported pointcut primitive 'call'
+```
+
+**The reference documentation says these throw `IllegalArgumentException`. They do not.**
+`UnsupportedPointcutPrimitiveException extends RuntimeException` directly — checked with
+`javap`, pinned by `AopContractTests.unsupportedDesignatorExceptionType`. A
+`catch (IllegalArgumentException)` will not catch it.
+
+## When the failure happens
+
+`setExpression(...)` only stores the string. The expression is not parsed or validated until
+something asks it to match. An unsupported designator therefore fails at the first candidate
+invocation, not at startup — so a rarely-exercised aspect can ship broken.
+
+## Combining and naming
+
+`&&`, `||` and `!` compose designators. Name the result rather than repeating it:
+
+```java
+@Pointcut("within(com.ankurm.aop.service..*)")
+public void inServiceLayer() {}
+
+@Before("this(OrderService) && inServiceLayer()")
+public void advice(JoinPoint jp) { }
+```
+
+A named pointcut is referenced by its method name and is the single biggest readability win
+available here.